1 20 1 https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/ab5af91218cbb4e31e58cd3d54a3c2d5.pdf 9bc5cbe0826d2e95f8e7c7b860674ccb PDF Text Text COPY Security Classification FROM: TJ;iE CANADIANAMBASSADOR TO THE PERSONAL ANDSECRET UNITEDSTATES, File No, TO: THE SECRETARY 01' STATEFOR EXTERNAi.AFFAiRS,CANADA !-•~---------·-----------------' _ __,.....:------,----------System Priority CYPHER-AUTO IMPORTANT Departmentul No. WA-2664 Date November 19, 1953. -- Reference: My WA-2663 of November 19, 1953. Circulation MINISTER UNDER/SEC 0/UNDER/SEC NUNDER/SEC'S ·oonei-------1 D0te-----~--, ======I Subject.: Harry Dexter Following for secretary, Begins: Wh:lte - Reference the Minister to "Canadian and the Acting Sources .." Under- At the same meeting with.Bedell Smith I rais~d again t;he question taken up by Lepan yesterday with Bonbright, namely, tne reference to Canadian sources in the Harry De;cter White hearing'/. This I said had not improved the chances of .co-operation in the Gouzenko matt(!)1"o Canadian authorH;ies we,re, to put it mildly, surprised that these references should have been made without any prior consultation or even any notice whatsoever. It was particularly shoclting to ua that these rei'erences should have been·made by the Head of' the Federal Bl.weau of Investigation. Furthermore, our searoll at Ottawa had so f'a:r failed to uncover the source to which reference had been made. Bedell Smith was aware, of course, that our enquiry to th.e State Depar.tment had been made yesterday. and I _ read him ths Prime Minister's reply to Mr. Die f en baker. 2. Bedell S~ith's reaction was exceedingly frank. He referred to the purely "political" origi.n and nature of recent activities in ·this whole .field, And he made it clea;.• to me that he was person.ttlly ver-y much opposed to the : :l.ni.tiatives which h.ad been taken by the admin'.l.stration. He also indicated that ·!;here wai: division of opinion on the au'bject in the administration and that strenuous effort!! had been made by the Secretary of State and himself, but without success, to eliminate certain features of the evidence given by Brownell whicb. would at'f'ect international relationships (references to the Soviet Embassy here).· To some extent the efforts to keep President Eisenhower above the dust and dirt had succeeded. ~cn2- ______ iat·e,_ ____ _ 3. Bedell Smit!->.had not given consideration to t1'le references to Canada in Hoover's letter. Commenting upon them, however, he said that it m.ust be remembered that J. Edgar l!oover was a powe1' unto himselt", that he would never "go out on a limb" by divulging on the one hand or withholding on the other in!'ormation which he thought might b~ to his own political advantage and that or. the F,B.I. Th.e State Department t'i'ould, of' course, communicate w'.Lth the -'·-:F,B,I. at once, .for-warding our enquiry and expressing the , "surprise" of Canacli..ln authorities that such public 1•etez•ences had been made without any prior notice or consultation 0 "'· 23!) frev.3/521 ~ 1>. tn 0 • <I O. 2 000113 �- 2 - with us. However, no very satisfactory likely in the present atmosphere. result was 4. Of course, I made the point that it was dif:f'icult, indeed impossible, for the Canadian Government to deal with half a dozen or more different manifestations of the United States and that our only proper channel for complaint and communication was the State Depa,:,tment itself, Bedell Smith fully appreciates this, as indeed do others in the s·tate Department with whom we deal. Livingston MeJ~chant was present throughout the interview. 5, With regard to Gouzenko, we will forward the second request of the sub-committee as soon as it is received; with regard to the enquiry of the F.B.I., we will, of course, inform you immediately there is any further news. 6. In view of the exceedingly frank and private nature of some of the remarks made to me by Bedell Smith, I would be grateful it only the minimum circulatt>n were given to this telegram. Ends" 000114 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Espionage Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource US Investigation of Canadians / 19 NOVEMBER 1953 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1953-11-19 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource en Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDTT00123 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Canadian Ambassador to the United States to Secretary of State for External Affairs, ‘‘Harry Dexter White,’’ 19 November 1953, LAC, RG 25, vol. 8561, file no. 50303-40, part 1.1.